We were originally targeting Sunday for this ride, but Saturday’s upcoming rain was going to make that a bad idea. Instead, a couple of us took Thursday off and we queued up a different Berkshires century ride for Sunday!
This route (October Mtn) was a gorgeous mix of deep woods, open vistas, smooth dirt, rough dirt, and some double-track and jeep-road adventure mixed in. About 85 miles was new exploration for GrNY, including the lovely October Mountain area. Note that conditions will change greatly if the weather has been wet recently (i.e., expect deep puddles, mud, and stream-bed-like sections), so choose your timing for this route accordingly! We chose a period of dry weather. Also consider whether to bring larger tires for the rougher sections. Steve was on 40mm gravel tires, but he would have appreciated fatter tires in places. Please use caution on the rougher parts, particularly the descents.
The route travels from North Canaan, CT to October Mountain State Forest in Massachusetts and includes all of the dirt from F2G2 (Fall Foliage Gravel Grinder) and a lot more. Expect ~65% dirt roads by distance, but probably 75% dirt by riding time.
Here’s the route (with some warnings you should heed in the route description): https://ridewithgps.com/routes/48256312
Here’s Steve’s Strava Post: https://www.strava.com/activities/12336524065
Some forest double track.
WARNING: You’ll hit this partway down the descent of Brace Rd. It is more like a loose streambed (dry at this moment) than a road.
Views from Anderson Vista in October Mountain State Forest.